The pint-sized Season 11 hopeful has big pipes and huge ambition, as her Wednesday performances proved. She talked to THR after the Top 3 show.

Michael Becker / FOX

Jessica Sanchez’s top 3 songs were ambitious and then some. Starting with Mariah Carey’s “My All,” chosen by judge Jennifer Lopez, then onto her pick of Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” and finally Jimmy Iovine’s choice of Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There.” The 16-year-old hopeful recounted the night with THR moments after the credits rolled…

The Hollywood Reporter: You were clearly trying to tap into an emotion during “My All” -- what were you feeling?

Jessica Sanchez: I was scared of that song and nervous about the dynamics -- going low and then getting all high. It's a Mariah Carey song and I really wanted to pull it off so I was just trying to find the emotion in it. … And the judges seemed to like it, so yeah!

Sanchez: When I first picked it, I was like, “I'm going to sing it for Steven and he's going to love it!” And then I got up there and as they were announcing it, I was, like, “Oh my gosh, this is his song and he's going to hate it.” Because he sang the heck out of that song, and now I'm singing it in front of him? It was nerve wracking... But I'm glad that he loved it. He even said I could be the last one standing, so I kind of freaked out.